Welcome to Orcmid's Lair, the playground for family connections, pastimes, and scholarly vocation -- the collected professional and recreational work of Dennis E. Hamilton

Recent Items
 
Friday Cat Picture: Weez Ur Trickz n Treatz
 
Friday Cat Photo: Princess Psyche (from 2007-09-24...
 
Friday Cat Picture: Streaks at 21 (from 2007-09-07...
 
Geek Dinner Collection: 2007-09-12 Hanselman Event...
 
Confirmable Experience: What a Wideness Gains
 
Confirmable Experience: Consider the Real World
 
Suono: Playing with HDR Photography
 
Interoperability: The IE 8.0 Disruption
 
Golden Geek: Executives and Malcontents
 
Social Computing: My Graphs over Our Grid?

Friday Cat Picture: In the Princess Eye (from 2007-10-07)

Usually when I am working close with my 105mm lens, the cats don't give me eye contact long enough for a clean photograph.  This one (cropped here) shows my good fortune.  I love that the surrounding fur frames the eye of little Princess Psyche. 

I think some of the clarity of this image is attributable to the Nikon SB-600 flash with Omnibounce on a side bracket, the closest I could match the pistol-grip flash handle used with my analog camera (shown to the right in a photo taken with my webcam).  I looked for a digital-camera-qualified version of that flash and none of them work with this handle.  I may end up scavenging it and kit-bashing it at some point, turning it into a bracket for shoe-mounted flashes like the SB-600.  I might even use a Nikon cord to for the extension from my D80's hot shoe. 

This shot doesn't qualify as a Strobist submission because the SB-600 is tethered and not far off the camera.  It also has an interesting defect, although Vicki thinks it adds something to the image: the photographer, camera, and speedlight are all visibly reflected in the cat's eye.

But I do like the result.  Yes I do.

Reflections: My 1992-purchased Nikon 8008s (pictured) was already smarter than its owner, as was almost the case with the 2020 before that.  This year's purchase of a D80 shows me how much smarter it is than the owner: It embarrasses me with the raft of features and settings over which I have no comprehension.  Once I obtained the SB-600 speedlight, it was clear that the flash is smarter than me too.  I have lots of practice to make up before I can again utter that I once (over 50 years ago) fancied becoming a photographer.

Modern photographic equipment: Whether or not the D80 and newer high-end cameras like the D3 are too feature-laden with too many options (sort of the Microsoft Office of its breed), it is clear that the digital era has revolutionized photography and creation of other electronic media.  In addition to easy entry levels, the affordability of high-powered equipment for amateurs and enthusiasts is telling.  There is another phenomenon.  The capabilities and economy of competing high-end Nikon and Canon digital SLR lines is leaving little room for after-market suppliers.  I don't think anyone can price-compete with the SB-600, for example, and the loss of functionality for lower-priced alternatives is pronounced.   I think this has a giant impact on the market, even in the (vanishing) stores where professionals shop.  (The difference for the pro seems to be ruggedness, durability, and extreme optical quality.)  OK enough pontification. What's needed from me is more pictures and more experiential mastery of my tools.

[update 2008-11-27 [Happy U.S. Thanksgiving Day] In bringing this post over from Orcmid’s Live Hideout I failed to repair one of the links to land here rather than back there.  I finally remembered to do that while I was situated to act on it.
 update 2008-11-07 This is part of my moving keepers from Orcmid’s Live Hideout to my own hosted sites for preservation and improved organization.  I’d meant to do this one for Halloween 2008 and I managed to miss it.  Now that I have improved the calibration of my monitor, I notice that I remain completely satisfied with the Princess Eye.  Not so sure about the little self-portrait taken with my webcam, but I’ll not fuss with that.]

Labels: cats, photography

posted by orcmid at 11/07/2008 04:54:00 PM